NOLS

February 14, 2012

I don’t like to imagine myself leaning over my boyfriend asking him what day it is, what his middle name is, and if he recalls what happened in the minutes prior. None of us does.

But best way to face the possibility that at some point in our adventures a companion will get hurt is to be prepared. The first step is to get an education in wilderness medicine, be it a wilderness first-aid course or a wilderness EMT course. The next step is repetition. Familiarity breeds calm, competent reactions in stressful moments.

If a wilderness medicine course is not in the cards for you in the near future or if it’s been a while since your last class, do some research online before your next adventure. The Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS (WMI) has a number of resources on hand for refreshing the medical mind, including scenarios and case studies online. Taking the time to study these will make all the difference should you find yourself in that dreaded aforementioned moment.

WMI also recently released two educational videos with a wealth of information based on the WMI curriculum. These are the first in a new “how to” series produced by NOLS and are based on a scenario in which a patient falls from a tree (a “five-tree” route). The two WMI instructors who respond walk viewers through the steps of identifying injuries. The scene is a winter environment, so warming techniques are also covered.

The second clip takes viewers through a focused spine assessment to determine if it is necessary to continue spine immobilization.

Whenever you travel into the backcountry, do you ask yourself: “Eat like a king but break my back with the weight; or eat like a squirrel and travel light and fast?” Well, you can stop asking yourself that question. Backcountry travel doesn’t involve a Hobson’s choice. Time and time again, our field instructors prove that you can have your cake and eat it, too.

This time, it’s breakfast. In the video below Casey Pikla and Amy Rathke show us that backcountry breakfast doesn’t mean choking down lukewarm flavored oatmeal—you can warm yourself with a savory cheesy spicy breakfast of grits and save some weight while you’re at it.

As I head to the 2012 Winter Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, where NOLS is receiving an Outdoor Inspiration Award for inspiring youth everywhere to pursue an education through a NOLS adventure, I am pondering what “adventure” really means, and what makes someone an “adventurer.”

When you think of “adventurer,” what do you picture? Me? I admit, I think of the image of a rugged leathery-faced mountain man in an old-timey wool cable-knit sweater, pocketed vest, and a canvas satchel replete with important adventure tools like a sextant, a treasure map, and a pistol. Clint Eastwood maybe? Or Harrison Ford? Oh, and he’s smoking a pipe.

What I don’t picture is the photo above. Yeah, that’s me on an adventure—35 days in the Wind River Range with NOLS. And I am pretty much the opposite of Clint Eastwood. I’m not leathery faced, although with age and exposure to the elements I’m definitely headed that way. But more important, I’m not white. And I’m not a man.

As a tinkerer of gear, I get really excited when someone decides to build something they want that doesn’t exist. In the case of engineer Devin Montgomery, that something was a wood-fired boiler small and light enough to take backpacking in an ultralight style. For people cooking one-pot meals, “just add water” meals, or “boil in a bag” food, the ability to travel without fuel is an unquestionable advantage in the field. The Backcountry Boiler is an efficient, eco-friendly (it burns renewable fuels!) stove system that evolves the lightweight kit to the next level.

The Backcountry Boiler is elegant in design and function. It allows a backpacker to travel without lugging petrochemical-based fuels by burning natural renewable fuels they find along the way. Weighing in at 8.8 ounces, the boiler is heavier than some alcohol stoves but is comparable to many other wood burners. But unlike other wood burners, the boiler can also be used as a water bottle with the included stopper!

The boiler functions on the simple chimney effect. A small fire is built in the burner base using tinder. It’s easier to light the fire and then place the boiler on the base. Be sure that the stopper is not plugging the water fill hole, or the vessel could explode.

The Backcountry Boiler proves to be surprisingly fast. Boiling two cups (16oz./500ml) of water multiple times per day over six days on a NOLS Lightweight Backpacking Course, I consistently had boil times of five minutes or less at altitudes between 8,000-10,000 feet, often using frigid water. This volume of water is ideal for “boil in a bag” type meals.

It’s important to note that the boiler doesn’t actually boil your food in the boiler its self, but boils the water to be added to your dehydrated meal in either a bag designed for this, or another container, perhaps your titanium mug.

December 12, 2011

By Contributing Writer Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin, Faculty member and Diversity & Inclusion Manager at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), with help from Lindsay Yost, NOLS winter instructor. Photo courtesy of Brad Christensen/NOLS

Oh adventurer, be not tempted this winter by the thought of lounging languidly on your La-Z -Boy in front of the hearth with a warm mug of liquid in your paws! Instead, strap on your skis and skins the head outside to shred the nar nar. Besides what we’ve already told you to stash in your summer and fall daypack, senior NOLS field instructor Lindsay Yost urges you to take these few extra items to beat the winter chill.

1. ChocolateSugar and calories are essential when you’re burning those extra calories to stay warm. So besides that hot cocoa you’re carrying in your thermos, take some extra chocolate. Lindsay prefers Chocolove Dark Chocolate with Peppermint. I’m a huge fan of the Lindt Touch of Sea Salt Bar. And then there is always the good ol’ Snickers Bar.

2. A multi-toolWhether you’re on skis and skins or on snow shoes, a multi-tool (like the Black Diamond Binding Buddy) is always great to have on hand to fix any gear problems.

The frigid wind was whipping at what must have been 60 miles per hour. Ok, maybe it was 30. All I know is I couldn’t feel my face. “This wind . . .,” I yelled back to my husband, Jamie, trying to come up with a euphemism for what I was really thinking. Words like “sucks” and “blows” were at the tip of my tongue, but as I glanced back Jamie gave me a look of warning. The message was clear: Don’t say what we’re both thinking. Not in front of our son, Kieran.

Hearing the whiny tone in my voice, Kieran—who was leading our pack of three up the trail to the climbing wall—stopped his hustle and faced me, looking expectant. I bit my tongue, patted him on the back of his head, wiped the snot off on my jacket sleeve, and pushed him forward. “Good job buddy! I’m proud of you!,” I said, in my cheeriest voice, urging him up the trail.

I tried to be optimistic. The weather had to be better up at the climbing wall, which radiated the sun’s heat. Up there was sure to be a whole new world; a different weather system. Right?

Wrong. We spent the next three hours climbing easy routes exposed to gusts of wind that blew down from the high country. Every few moves, I’d hang, unzip my jacket, fleece, and base layer, stick my numb hands as far into my armpits as possible, and try to regain feeling. Then I’d make a few more moves while my fingers screamed.

And Kieran? He was having a ball. He was in his “cozy spot,” a little land of jackets, fleeces, and a sleeping bag that we had created between a boulder and a juniper bush. All the plastic animals were out, reenacting a scene from one of Kieran’s favorite movies. What was the deal with that kid? It’s like he couldn’t even feel the cold!

We persevered for the next three hours. The day ended with sore forearms, bloody fingers, and . . . a happy and tired kid. Later that evening, drinking tea in the comfort of our living room while Kieran slumbered, Jamie asked, “are you happy we climbed today?” The answer was yes. It’s always yes. The moral of the story? It’s always better to get our family outside in s****y weather than never to venture out at all.

While some people are amping up their diets and gym routines in a frantic attempt to look amazing when the family comes over for the holidays, others are hitting the gym for another reason—powder.

NOLS instructor Jaime Musnicki gave us some advice on prepping for ski season (and, incidentally, looking great for the holidays). Her first suggestion was maintaining an active lifestyle. But by preparing specifically as ski season approaches, you can gain longer days early in the season, decrease risk of injury, and, ultimately get in more skiing this season. Here's where to start.

Cardiovascular Fitness

Walking, running, hiking, and biking are all great ways to improve cardio fitness. And interval training is essential. “A lot of skiing is more anaerobic than aerobic, so being able to have the high-intensity workouts is really important for training purposes,” Musnicki said. Ski-specific core and lower body exercises like plyometrics are helpful in building stability from legs up to the core.

Strength

While plyometrics build strength, weight training is also a great way to set yourself up for success. “Probably the biggest injuries, in the early season especially, are knee injuries," noted Musnicki. "A lot of that is directly related to your quads and hamstrings—which hold your knees together—just not being quite as strong as they could be yet.” Dynamic movements such as squat thrusts and jumping lunges can prevent an early-season injury from ruining the season.

Musnicki added that backcountry skiers tend to pull muscles in the hip flexor region while breaking trail skinning. Be sure to train your core and stabilize your hips through strength training and stretching to avoid this kind of injury.

Functional Flexibility

Yoga provides strength training, as well as functional flexibility. Yoga provides better body awareness, allowing yoga-skiers to use the body in different ways and prevent injuries.

Protecting Yourself on the Slopes

Movement is how the body stays warm, and food and water fuel that. Bring warm and/or flavored water, which you may be more likely to drink on a cold day in the snow.

Confidence

“People get hurt skiing most frequently when they’re being tentative in going, in committing to the fall line and going downhill,” Musnicki noted. Skiing assertively—aggressively can take you to the other end of injury—keeping your weight forward, and stress off your knees and back also allows a skier to respond to terrain more easily.

As fall starts to give way to winter, the season’s dropping temperatures slowly add layers to the list of items I take on my adventures, be it climbing, camping, or backcountry skiing. Extra midlayers, such as fleece hoodies, have entered the scene, as have warm hats and down jackets.

My neighbor and fellow NOLS employee Casey Dean came across a layering lesson recently on an outing to Wild Iris, a popular local climbing destination. “I ended up donning more clothes to belay and shedding them before taking to the wall on sunny climbing routes,” said Dean.

Some tips to layering:

(1) A layering system should be a comprehensive unit; unless you’re trying to “go light,” no one article of clothing should be expected to serve multiple purposes.

(2) Proper layering should allow you to be comfortable through fluctuating temperatures and precipitation, as well as whatever activity you choose to enjoy.

(3) Plan for the worst. “You don’t want to put on all the clothes you’ve packed into the backcountry and still feel like something’s missing,” says Casey.

Excellent layer-by-layer recommendations and tips on the best materials can be found in this video by our experts in the NOLS Teton Valley issue room.

I had the trip planned for months. Reserved two llamas from Lander Llama Company. Made and remade my packing list ten times. Took my Deuter Kid Comfort II pack on some test runs. Mapped out the route and got permits. We would spend a night in a spot I call “Beaver Meadow,” where the Popo Agie River oxbows and creeps through beaver lodges and willow stands, the perfect evening snack spot for moose. Then a few nights in Stough Creek Basin, a high alpine basin on Roaring Fork Mountain. Then we would wander over to Deep Creek Lakes for a few days, leaving the llamas down at camp for the day, to summit Wind River Peak.

All in all, it would be eight days in the mountains with my husband, our four-year-old, and two llamas packing our gear. Not a hard-core adventure ... by any stretch of the imagination. Without the kiddo, Jamie and I could probably hike the whole route in a couple of days. But we knew better than to be ambitious. We would go at Kieran’s pace. If that meant stopping for an hour to admire a bug, or throwing rocks in the river for another two hours, that would be ok.

Kieran was beyond psyched.

“Amma [mom in Tamil]? Are we going into the Wind River Mountains with the llamas tomorrow?”

“No, not tomorrow. Four weeks from now.”

Same question the next day. Similar answer. The clock was ticking down to go time.

October 03, 2011

Just as our short growing season ends in Wyoming, game season has arrived. This means more meat (yay!), but fewer vegetables (boo!). While cleaning out my freezer of last year’s game and picking the last few cucumbers from the community garden before the first frost hits, I’ve been trying to invoke the Martha Stewart in me to do something creative with this food, something to make it last just a little bit longer so I’m not stuck eating store-bought meat and potatoes all winter. Alas, I was unable to channel Martha. But I did get some ideas from Kary Sommers, a NOLS Field Instructor who has been hunting since she was 12. These zingy cowboy pickles and jerky are great snacks for your next adventure.